


Rites

by tyrsdayschild



Series: Rites [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Rescue Bots
Genre: M/M, Non-Sticky Sexual Interfacing, Robot/Human Relationships, Tactile Sexual Interfacing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-26
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-08-11 05:29:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7878340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tyrsdayschild/pseuds/tyrsdayschild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part one of a series. There are four acts in the Conjunx Ritus- three offers and an answer. A joke has implications for Chief Burns and Chase's relationship neither expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chase calmly sat in his vehicle mode, idling while waiting for the Chief to return from making sure the day's report had uploaded to his office computer and for the others to return from their duties. Heatwave and Kade were the first to arrive, still smoking from a lab fire that afternoon. Kade hopped out as soon as they pulled in and Heatwave transformed barely a nanoklik after his human partner had exited.

"Ugh!" Heatwave grunted. Popping the doors on his torso open, he leaned from side to side, hopping a little as he did.

"Hey Heatwave, what're you doing?" Dani asked, sliding down the pole from the roof. The glare Heatwave shot at Kade from across the garage could've melted tungsten.

"I'm _trying_ to get the _food scrap_ Kade left in my cab out," Heatwave growled. Awkwardly, he reached around his own door to scratch at his floorboards. He shook an empty soda bottle loose, making a 'pop' as it bounced off the concrete, and a hamburger wrapper floated quietly out beside it.

"I'm not sure if _some_ whiners have realized it," Kade announced from the other side of the garage, hanging his fire coat in his locker, his undershirt sweat-stained and his face ash-blackened, "But we had a _busy_ day and I didn't have _time_ to stop, I _had_ to eat on the go, so _maybe_ you should stop complaining already-"

"-well I can _already_ feel your disgusting organic crumbs starting to _decay_ , so _maybe_ -"

"-what do you want me to do, _vacuum_ you? I clean me, you clean yourself, I'm _tired_ , that's all I'm saying about it-"

"-I'm just saying a little _consideration_ when you're _inside_ me wouldn't go amiss, that's all _I'm_ saying!" Heatwave snarled. Kade whirled around to face him, an odd look on his face, and he burst out with a bark of laughter.

"Oh my god dude," Kade said, snickering, " _Phrasing_."

"How else should I phrase it?" Heatwave asked, irritable and now a little confused, "You're literally inside me- you too, Dani!?"

"Sorry, sorry, that's just- it's weird and funny," Dani snickered.

"What're you guys laughing about?" Graham asked as he and Boulder walked in, leaving wet tracks from having washed off the worst of the dirt from his blade.

"Heatwave wants me to be _gentle_ with him," Kade snickered.

"No, I want you to not leave a fragging mess when you come inside me with- _what the frag is wrong with all of you!_ " Kade and Dani were hysterical with laughter, and Graham had turned ruby red, covering his face with his hands.

"I don't get it either," Boulder said, "That seems pretty reasonable to me."

"I'm not explaining this," Graham said, power walking across the garage towards the entrance to the Burns' house, still hiding his face with his hands, "I'm not explaining, I'm not explaining, you are both terrible people, I'm not explaining-"

"Not explaining what?" Chief Burns asked, practically opening the door in Graham's face.

"Ooh, did I miss a joke? A prank? Oh my gosh, is it 'August Fools Day'? Can I join in?" Blades asked excitedly from the vehicle lift, descending from the roof.

"You have missed nothing," Chase said, transforming. "From what I observed, Heatwave complained about Kade leaving detritus inside him, something about the way this complaint was phrased was humorous to Kade, and the situation escalated from there, for reasons unclear to me."

"Wow, that's really weird," Cody said, peeking around from behind his dad, "Are you okay Kade? Did you breath too much smoke?"

"I'll show you too much smoke, kiddo-"

"Graham, you and Cody go set the table- no complaining Cody, you can play with the bots after dinner," Chief said firmly. Cody sighed dramatically but didn't protest as his brother stepped past their father and guided him back up the stairs to the family's home. Chief Burns shut the door behind them, looking sternly at his other two children. "Now I think you owe Heatwave an apology."

"What! Aw, come on dad-"

"It doesn't take a genius to realize you were making a crass joke at your partner's expense, which is extremely unprofessional." The stare Chief Burns leveled at his eldest was unyielding. Kade groaned.

"Ugh, fine, whatever, I'm sorry for making fun of you," Kade grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"I don't want an apology, I want to know what's so slagging funny," Heatwave said.

"'Being inside' someone refers to an intimate act between humans. Kade was just being juvenile," Chief Burns said.

"What? Humans go inside each other? How does that work?" Blades asked, surprised.

"Indeed. The relative sizes alone make an act like that improbable. I am curious to know how such a thing is possible," Chase said.

"Oh man," Dani said, covering her face like Graham, "Dad, can I go help Graham and Cody with dinner?"

"You may," the Chief said, "And I take it you've learned your lesson about crude jokes on the job?"

"Yes," Dani said, tossing her flight helmet on top of the locker with a clatter as she jogged towards the door, leaving it ajar as she passed.

"Well don't look at me! I'm not giving the bots 'the talk,'" Kade said defensively. The Chief pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Just go shower off, and _try_ to be professional at work."

"Okay, _dad_ ," Kade said, stomping past the Chief, shutting the door a little too forcefully.

"That doesn't even work as sarcasm since I'm actually his father," the Chief muttered.

"Does that mean you're going to talk to us?" Blades asked. Chief Burns sighed.

"I'm going to talk to Kade and the other kids about remembering to treat you all like people and to be considerate about your personal space," Chief Burns said. "If you really want to talk about human intimacy and it's euphemisms, you can talk to me in private. Is there anything else?"

"I still have some fries caught in my seat," Heatwave grumbled, "Do you think you could...?"

The Chief nodded, and Heatwave quickly transformed, leaving his doors opened. Chief Burns leaned in, his smaller hands nimbly picking the last bits of garbage out of Heatwave.

"Better?" he asked, throwing the trash away.

"Better," Heatwave said.

"My children's immaturity aside, you all did excellent work today. Have a good night." The Chief nodded, and took his leave. The bots made their way to the vehicle lift and lowered the platform.

"Sooo...? Are we gonna talk about it?" Blades asked excitedly.

"What's there to talk about," Heatwave said, stepping off the platform onto the bunker floor. He teeked of unreleased irritation and his optics were fixed on his sparring pole.

"Uh, _hello_?" Blades said, "Being inside another person is an act of intimacy for humans! This whole time we thought we were just working but we've actually been _cuddling_!"

"I don't think so," Boulder said thoughtfully. "Humans drive vehicles all the time and don't think anything about it."

"Sometimes they do! Like in movies or TV or songs, they call them 'sweetheart' and 'baby' and they love them... Oh my gosh, do you think I'm Dani's 'little deuce coupe'?"

"You're not a coupe, Blades."

"'Little deuce copter... you don't know what I've got-ter!'"

Boulder and Blades' laughter was broken by the crack of Heatwave's fist against the training pole as the firebot began a particularly frustrated training session.

"Aw, sorry Heatwave!" Blades called. "I'm sure Kade'll come around!"

" _Chase_ is the luckiest out of all of us," Heatwave grumbled, "He and the Chief are different- Chief's always treated him like a person- he hasn't had to put up with half the slag we've had to."

"That's true," Chase said, a little surprised to realize it was, then feeling foolish for being surprised. More than an Earth-quartex into their assignment, and Dani and Blades were finally settling into a working rhythm, Blades getting the hang of flight and the human pilot easing off her punishing grip on his instruments. Since finding out Boulder was an engineer in his own right, Graham had seemed almost intimidated of him, and of course, the power struggle between Kade and Heatwave showed no sign of abating. But the Chief-

"Hey guys!" Cody called cheerfully, interrupting Chase's thoughts as he slid down the pole to the bunker. "Are you ready for movie night? Dani recommended me another pirate movie, _and_ it's a musical!"

"Busy," Heatwave said, aiming a kick at the training pole.

"Did you finish your dinner?" Boulder asked.

"Ye-es," Cody said. Blades had already raced over to his favorite position against the couch and was turning on the tv, queuing up Netflix. "What about you Chase?"

"I... think I require recharge tonight, Cody. I wish you an enjoyable film," Chase said.

"Okay," Cody said. He leaned in and hugged the police bot's leg. "'Night Chase!"

Chase very carefully petted the human child's head with two fingers. "Good night, Cody," he said, watching as the boy scampered off to find a spot on the couch not obstructed by bot. The strains of human music started playing from the television, and the irregular thuds of Heatwave's fists on wood nearly covered the sounds of Chase's steps as he walked to the back room of the bunker. Their stasis pods were set up along the back wall. He felt agitated, his processor distracted by fragmentary thought trains. He needed a full defrag- that would set his coding straight.

And yet.

Irrationally, he found himself walking to the simple bunked berths Boulder had constructed one afternoon, suitable for light recharge. He lay down on the lower berth, shifting to align his joints along the slab, and let his processor wander. He was not sure why he was so agitated by Kade's comments. He knew, logically, that Boulder was correct. The humans viewed them as vehicles, and there was no special emotional significance to riding in vehicles. In this they were like Cybertronians, even though on Cybertron non-sentient transport hadn't been common till after the war began. Most in the transport caste had minimal sensors on their interiors in order to avoid discomfort or unnecessary stimulation, and mechs in the Rescue Bots size class used their interior to transport equipment, but almost never other mechs. The space that served as a cab in their Earth alt-modes was more of a crumple zone in their native forms to prevent their spark chambers or vital parts from being crushed by falling debris, with thick armor rather than open windows. Chase had assumed carrying his human partner was akin to carrying a forensic minicon to a crime scene. _But it wasn't._

No, it wasn't Kade's joke that was bothering him- it was Heatwave's words. _He and the Chief are different._ The Chief had always treated him well, recognizing the cab as an extension of Chase's body but not shrinking from that knowledge. He was neither messy nor rough, a calm presence that guided Chase without dominating him, his hands resting on Chase's wheel, grip reassuringly firm but not controlling. It was unusual- like no relationship Chase had had previously, not even with Trigger- but, he allowed himself to acknowledge, it was very nice. The agitated feeling had returned, a restless excess of energy. The window on the left side of his torso rolled down almost of its own accord, and he jerked his helm around to check the door. No one was there, no one could've heard. His charge crackling higher with embarrassment, he awkwardly angled his arm to reach a servo inside. He pressed it against the seat, triggering pressure sensors, running it from headrest to base. As he traced his servo up again, he hesitated and diverted left, tugging at the safety belt. The synthetic straps that had once served to secure cargo had a small amount of charge to keep him cognizant of shifts. He pulled and released the strap that the Chief wore everyday, focusing his internal sensors on detecting the faint stimulation the belt generated. It wasn't even any one action, but rather the cascade of sense memories each one triggered that raised his charge. The memory of the weight of the Chief against him, his fingers on his sensors- and the irrational fantasy that these weren't mere practicalities, weren't even intimate acts, but were an Act of Intimacy, an opening, an invitation, a sign of _want_.

What he was doing was unprofessional, it was illogical, it was embarrassing, it was _glitched_ \- and yet as his fingers groped and traced at his auxiliary instruments inside, he couldn't stop his engine from revving as his EM field went wild, surface panels crackling with discharged static as his optics whited out in overload. Overwhelmed, the tangential thought trees finally shuttered, and his processor was able to fade black into recharge. His last thought was of hoping his teammates wouldn't be able to smell the ozone and know what he'd done.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Chase could hardly suppress the flash of charge as Chief Burns opened the door and settled inside him. He sent up a quick prayer to Primus his teammates hadn't teeked his excitement as he and the Chief set off on patrol. As they settled into their routine pattern, Chase shifted his processor from suppressing his emotions to shaping them into something coherent and calm.

"Chief," he said over his internal speaker, "Is this a good time to speak with you about a personal matter?" The Chief's grip on his steering wheel tightened for a moment, then loosened again.

"Sure," the Chief said. "Can I assume this is about last evening?"

"In part," Chase said, hesitating. "I...am not so much curious about what Kade meant as by what it means for us."

"I can assure you, the act Kade was referring to has nothing to do with me riding inside of you," the Chief said. "It's physically impossible for us to, uh, interact in that way."

"I did not mean the specific action Kade was joking about, so much as I meant in general," Chase clarified. "I am not an insentient vehicle. I am a 'person,' by many definitions of the word, and you have always known this and treated me as such. You are my partner, and we work well together and I... value you, and have many positive emotional processes associated with you. And now it has occurred to me that we spend the better part of our work day in close proximity, touching each other, and I am... having trouble classifying my feelings about it, and would appreciate knowing if you consider our relationship and actions intimate." Anxiety churned in his emotional sub-routines as he tuned internal sensors to focus on Chief Burns reaction. Chief Burns was silent for a long moment, his facial features moving from 'surprised' to 'pensive.'

"Huh," the Chief said, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. "I guess I never thought about it like that before. It's a heck of a thing..." he stopped his drumming. "Can you feel that?"

"Yes," Chase said. "I have tactile sensors along the wheel itself, and can sense the subtle vibrations passing down my drive shaft."

"Sorry about that. I'll try not to-"

"I don't mind," Chase assured him, "Please, do not stop on my account. It feels... pleasant."

"Alright," Chief Burns said, and deliberately patted his wheel. "I suppose the most important part is that you are my partner. My father taught me a good partnership is like a good marriage, and a good marriage is a good partnership. So in the sense of trust and communication and cooperation, we are certainly intimate. And in the euphemistic sense, that's not exactly... biologically relevant, so-"

"Blades suggested we were cuddling," Chase couldn't help interjecting. A small frown formed on Chief Burns face.

"Does Blades think he's cuddling Dani?"

"I believe he was being facetious."

"Are you being facetious?" the Chief asked. Chase hesitated, then turned his internal pulleys, tightening and loosening the safety belt a couple of times to make sure the Chief felt it.

"I am holding you," Chase said, a little more softly than he meant to. The Chief's face softened in response, and he rubbed the steering wheel, resting his foot on Chase's accelerator in a way that sent a jolt of racing through his engine.

"And I've got you," the Chief assured him. "Alright, you wanted my opinion on how to classify what we are and what we do. I think this is a physical expression of trust- I trust you to carry me, you trust me inside you, we both trust each other to protect the other. It might not mean the same thing for the others, since they don't have the same kind of partnership that we do, or at least not yet, and that's alright. Is that a good classification?"

"You called me your partner... Do you consider us to have a good partnership? Like you said before?"

"Chase, I think you just might be the best partner I've ever had," the Chief said. Chase couldn't contain the flux of shock-joy in his EM field at those words.

"Thank you, sir," Chase said, "And, seeing as how by your definition, a good partnership is built on communication, if in the future I wanted to discuss this with you further, or ask a question?"

"Feel free," Chief Burns assured him, "You can talk to me about anything, I promise." To be given freedom of speech with a superior was a great liberty, one that cemented Chase's sense that this was one of those rare partnerships based on genuine equality, rather than the more common arrangement of being used.

The solar car careened out of control across the intersection in front of them.

"Darn!" the Chief swore, "I thought Doc had that thing under control... Feeling up for it, Chase?" Chase revved his engine, and tore around the corner in pursuit of the runaway vehicle eagerly.

"It will be my pleasure," he said, and turned on his sirens, happy to help his partner.

\---

To have a partner again- a real partner- had radically shifted the equilibrium of Chase's processor. After Trigger had been appropriated by the army, he had thought he would never have a partner again. There was something almost blasphemously disloyal in thinking about someone he had known for less than a metacycle in the same terms as the minicon he had worked with for vorns, but if he remembered to think in ratios, it was acceptable. He had known Charlie Burns for over a quartex, proportionally- it was only because humans lived at a tempo quicker than he had ever operated at that it felt short.

That tempo was throwing off his readjustment period as well. Not even full defragmentation could save his code now. Reclassifying Chief Burns had disrupted most of the operating parameters that had guided him since beginning his service on Earth. He felt off-kilter, and had to consciously attend to many regulatory processes that should've been automated as his coding reoriented itself. The speed at which human operated, the frequency of change, and the unpredictable nature of the accidents and emergencies they intervened in- all of it was not conducive to the patterning process. Chase found himself attuning much more closely to his human partner than he would normally do with another mech, only heightening the feelings of intimacy the human fostered in him. The heightened levels of energy necessary for attending and rewriting were only exacerbated by intentional, casual contact Chief Burns now engaged in.

"Just got word from Cody," Chief Burns said, "It's our turn to deal with Mister Pettypaws duty- do you want to try snagging the little guy?"

"I feel that the creature does not like me," Chase said, heading towards the Neederlander residence. "Nevertheless, I will do my best, since my panels are more resistent to its claws than your skin-coating."

"Good man," the Chief said, taking one hand of his wheel to thump Chase's dash twice, rubbing a little before returning his hand to the wheel. "Does that feel alright? I don't want to hurt you."

"I have very few sensors there," Chase said, "It is an acceptable form of contact." Only a few sensors, but it seemed more like _a hundred_. No one had ever intentionally stimulated them before- what should've been a low level of tactile stimulation took on an alien quality. After Mrs. Neederlander's feline had been extracted from the tree and returned to her care, Chief Burns spent a significant portion of their return to the firehouse touching other parts of Chase's cab, inquiring which were sensitive and which were insensate, what kinds of stimulation felt best on which part. It had been a week since their conversation, and this was the third time the Chief had engaged in a sustained exploration, though the overall incidence in contact had increased since they talked. This was the longest he had ever done so, and Chase was beginning to feel so overcharged he wondered if it was possible to offline from sensation.

"I'm not making you uncomfortable, am I?" Chief Burns asked.

"I do not mind answering your inquiries, and I enjoy your touch," Chase forced out. "It is just a little- I am unused to this kind of input."

"How do Cybertronians express intimacy?" Chief Burns asked, stilling his hand to Chase's relief.

"Tactile stimulation, mostly of exterior frame sensors, the exchange of data via hardline connection, or allowing EM fields to interact," Chase rattled off.

"Oh well," the Chief said, "Too bad humans don't have data or EM fields."

"Humans have EM fields," Chase corrected, "Though they are very weak and we have been briefed that you are not consciously aware of them."

"Huh," the Chief said. "Can you feel me now?"

"Yes," Chase said, "You feel like you." Humans teeked strange- barely there, utterly incomprehensible, but each identifiably unique.

"What do you feel like?" the Chief asked. In response, Chase flared his EM field as strongly as possible, letting loose the baffling mix of excitement-guilt-confusion-want.

"Can you feel me?" Chase asked.

"Well isn't that the darndest thing," the Chief murmured, lifting an arm to examine the 'goosebumps' standing up along his arm. "Sorry Chase- all I feel is light-headed."

"I did not expect otherwise," Chase said, reigning in his field once more as they pulled up the drive to the firehouse. "If there is nothing more you need from me Chief, I would like to go do some laps around the track."

"Want me to drive you?" Chief Burns asked. Yes, thought Chase desperately, he wanted the Chief's hands on his auxilliary instruments, to give himself over bodily to his partner, to feel another make his engine race.

"I don't think that would be... a symmetrical experience for us," Chase said, groping awkwardly for an explanation. He knew the Chief was not as stimulated by their physical contact as Chase was. He did not yet know how to balance their relationship, but knew it would be inappropriate to allow the Chief to help him discharge.

"Alright then," Chief Burns said, getting out in front of the house. "Have a good drive, Chase."

"Thank you," Chase said, and pulled around to the small course in the back of the firehouse. The small track was interrupted by a ramp, making it impossible to engage in simple speed runs. However, Chase thought, accelerating as he rounded the corner, with a little practice and a good sense of timing- he triggered his transformation sequence just as his altmode launched off the small ramp, using his longer root mode frame to reach the other side, and one step, two step, transforming back into his altmode without losing momentum and whirling around the bend for another lap- it was an acceptable way to burn charge.

Around his second breem of racing, he sensed Blades walking over to stand at the side of the track, watching him. His internal comms received a nervous ping from the former drillbot, and he reluctantly began to decelerate, managing one last lap before transforming mid-leap, landing, and jogging over to his teammate.

"Good evening, Blades," he said, his cooling vents still whirring, "Do you or the team require something of me?"

"Oh, no," Blades said, waving his servos dismissively. "I just wanted to talk to you, y'know?"

"Please don't prevaricate, Blades," Chase said. He looked to his left, not quite able to meet the other's eyes as he rerouted processor focus to locking down his EM field, strengthening his already rigid emotional control protocols.

Blades smiled sheepishly. "I'm just worried about you. You've been, uh, unusually keyed up lately? You've got Enforcer coding _and_ a speed frame, so you're like, doubly predisposed to weirdness, and I'm still a medic and also your _friend_ , so if I can help you..."

"Thank you Blades," Chase said, "However, there is not much you can do. I am in the process of repatterning."

"Oooh," Blades winced. "Rewriting hard code sucks _slag_. Still though, you might wanna come in- it's getting dark, and the humans'll worry if you're out much longer."

"Very well." Chase had burned off most of his excess charge, anyways. He and Blades made their way into the garage, heading down to the bunker.

"Oh oh, we can watch cop shows if you want! Lots of nice patterns for you to assimilate," Blades offered, smiling.

"Thank you, but you may watch whatever you wish. I prefer to assimilate information via reading." He knew it was more efficient to absorb information by accessing the human 'internet', but the digital adaptation necessary to interface with the insentient network was uncanny and deeply unsettling. At least the organic books were honest about their alien nature.

"Okay," Blades said. Boulder was tinkering in the corner of the room, and Heatwave was almost definitely submitting their weekly report to Prime. Blades turned to walk away, then hesitated, and reached out and touched Chase's shoulder, their surface EM mingling. Chase could not help but teek the hurt Blade's felt at Chase's involuntary pang of surprise and fear at the touch. "You know that you can talk to any of us about any thing, right? You aren't a solitary operator any more, you've got a team to rely on."

"I was never solitary," Chase corrected, nostalgia panging in his spark as he remembered his prewar days as a pursuit vehicle. "I was armed."

Blades squeezed his shoulder, strengthening the sense of _sympathy_ , and then let go. "So you understand we're here for you."

Teammates were _not_ the same as a partner, Chase thought, but nodded, knowing what Blades meant and that it was true enough. Blades was his friend, even if he wasn't his amica, and he didn't want to hurt the other mech's feelings.

"If you will excuse me," Chase said, and walked over to the bookshelf, selecting a volume he had not yet read, and settling in while he waited for their human partners to finish their nightly oblations and recharge cycle. He was pleased to realize he had selected a technical manual on radio broadcasting protocol. He eagerly began reading through the dry phrasing of the tome. Humans had so much training material available for free, and a manual for every conceivable thing, it seemed. He began incorporating the radio protocols into his communication sub-routines, beginning to feel more settled as the information integrated. Even a seemingly erratic species like humans had rules for everything, if you tried to learn them, Chase thought. Surely, eventually, he would know the correct way to do everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be more to this series- however, what I planned to be 'chapter three' is already at 6,000 words with no good splitting place, so I'm going to post it as a separate work. Hope you have enjoyed this so far! :)


End file.
